Bittersweet Rummage Sale Time!

I don't know if you remember or not, but I have mentioned before that I planned to open up an antique store. We are in the midst of renovating two homes, one of which was going to be the location of the shop.

We have run into some county regulations which may prevent my using the property for this, so I am a bit discouraged, but trying to investigate through the red tape.

We have collected antiques and collectables throughout the years, and we once had a huge Victorian home full of these type of treasures. I have a lot of them in storage awaiting the shop opening.

In the meantime, I have tried to refrain from collecting more things for inventory, just in case we cannot open the shop, after all.

However, I made an exception this weekend.

Our neighbors who come to the lake just for the summers have decided to sell their place and stay in North Carolina full time. We just got to know them over the last two or three summers, and we really like these folks. So it saddens me to see them go. They used to own a beautiful and awesome shop called Blooming Bay, which had a wonderful inventory of crafts, garden plants and supplies and just outright cool stuff.

So, in preparation of moving away, they decided to have a rummage sale this weekend. And bless their hearts, they offered us first choice of some of the stuff prior to the sale to the public.

Here are some of the neat things we bought:

These two little bottles to put whatever I want in...they are sealed with those silver little corks on the top:

And....

This little cute steeple

candle holder:

In one of the houses we are renovating, I decided to do a blue theme. I already have some antique blue and white dishes to put on the walls, and some cobalt blue bottles.

This vase will be great in there too!:

And then I saw these two plates.

I HAD to have them for home.

Especially in light of my recent apple pie making....

I just loved these!:

These last few pictures came a little blurry, it is not your eyes!

I loved this little carafe with its matching glass topper:

See how it looks with the glass down?:

I can find somewhere in my renovated house for this cute carpet too!:

And I had to have this lamp!

(Ignore the dust and bad background, I store it in the house we are fixing up, so it is dusty and full of construction!):







And this little lady will be holding some garden flowers!:

See how wonderful her sale was?

How could I NOT get these things??

I live in a log home, for goodness sakes!...so I HAD to get these birch bark planters, right?:

And this mirror???:

(Again: ignore the background and mirror reflection, it is in our storage place!):








And last, but not least...the first thing I saw when I entered the sale was THIS:

I loved that table when it was in her shop.

And now????

It's MINE!

It has a drawer!:

And look at its top!!!

Everytime I see it, I will think of Sharon and Jerry.

A great sale, but bittersweet.

Because they are moving away....

But I know we will remain friends.

You know how you meet someone and immediately gel with them?

It's like that.

So, I better get my maps out and find out how to find them in the hills of North Carolina.

Because we will be packing up soon for a visit with them.

Thanks Sharon and Jerry for a great sale and for being our wonderful neighbors.

We are going to miss you something terrible!